LeanApps

LeanApps develops and delivers modern policy management software for Life Insurance companies and pension funds which enable them to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and demands.

More information on www.leanapps.nl

LeanApps embraces offshore development

Software Company LeanApps closely works with a team of developers in India. With the help of the unique human resource approach of Offshore Development Partner coMakeIT, there is an immediate click from both sides and the offshore concept truly offers added value.

Host Erik Zeillemaker, Manager Development at LeanApps, apologizes immediately when he says that his guests cannot meet at the Naarden head office. There is simply no space in the overcrowded building. The alternative location is the nearby restaurant in the marina of Naarden and given the good weather that is anything but a punishment. This situation illustrates the growth LeanApps has been through the recent years. The company develops and provides web-based standard software for the full policy management of life insurance companies and pension funds. In that market the 7-year-old company has build a leading position by profound knowledge of the insurance industry combined with a broad ICT expertise in the field of Java and Component Based Development. That has led to some appealing references, including of Nationale Nederlanden, Interpolis, Yarden and Loyalis. Core of the offering is the solution “LeanApps-Life” which enables the easy assembly and selling of new life insurance products and also the administration of these policies. This solution is built from many different components. "Because we are absolutely convinced that an integrated system from a single supplier does not offer the flexibility to be able to quickly change business processes. In addition, the components can easily be coupled with CRM systems, workflow solutions and in-house developed systems of the insurer themselves." explains Zeillemaker. The solution is also available based on Software-as a Service (SaaS).

Short time-to-market

Insurers need to have the possibility to make their business processes flexible. They must be able to respond quickly to changing market conditions. These may be the rapid incorporation of new laws and regulations that the government imposes or the implementation of binding agreements that are prescribed by the Federation of Insurers. One of the spearheads for example is increasing the transparency in the various processes, so that the insured has more understanding of the status of his product. At the same time, the insurer has his own wishes, such as the rapid rollout of new products.

"All this should be possible within the existing infrastructure. In many cases LeanApps Life solves this dilemma and products can rapidly be brought to the market. But our customers also come with feedback and sometimes ask for new functionality that we may not be able to deliver immediately. To be able to comply with the customers request every four months we release a new version of LeanApps Life ", tells Prashant Tapkhirwala, Project Manager at the company.” This way we enable our customers to quickly respond to changing market conditions. For them our solutions are truly business critical. "

The delivery of three new versions puts a healthy pressure on the organization, knows Erik Zeillemaker. "Besides the fact that we have many resources on the delivery of Updates, we of course also strive towards further growth of our customer base. And new customers must be implemented. That means building interfaces, migrating data and content and integrating the existing environment with the latest release of our software components. In the already tight labor market it was and is difficult to especially attract Java developers. For both the growth of our organization and to ensure a short time to market, in the end of 2006 we have investigated the potential of outsourcing in general and offshoring in particular explored. "

Intellectual property

It is well known that the labor market for software developers is under pressure, certainly when it comes to (experienced) Java specialists. In addition, LeanApps has special needs such as knowledge of JBuilder and experience in the insurance industry. Then you know that it will be tricky to find qualified personnel, sufficient to the desired growth. Soon contact with coMakeIT was established, a Dutch company with an own Indian establishment. This company offers offshore software product development in which it acts as co-maker; as a partner of the software company. "The philosophy we follow is that we must be very cautious with the intellectual property of our customers: developers of product software, since it is the core of the proposition of our customers. We're committed therefore to win their confidence. We do not give them the feeling that they are giving part of their firm in other hands, but instead that they are attracting new developments to themselves. Among other things we do this by letting our customers work with dedicated, fixed teams in our establishment in India. First of all this protects the knowledge that is built within the offshore team on the client and the product it develops. Secondly, our people in India are really feeling connected with our customer and they rapidly see themselves as a part of the client organization. "

Growing in knowledge

These are the words of Steven ten Napel, CEO of coMakeIT. On the other side of the table Erik Zeillemaker is nodding in assent. "We have not considered for a moment to start an organization ourselves in India or any other offshore location. We do not have the knowledge and the manpower for this. The way in which coMakeIT works fits very well to our ideas about how we could implement the outsourcing of major parts of our work. In addition, we were impressed by the proven track Record. From 2007 onwards we have a team of developers working for us. What we find very important is that our people in India continually grow in knowledge and we therefore can trust them with increasingly complex assignments. It is good to see that our colleagues in Hyderabad quickly master the processes in the Dutch insurance market. That enables us to deploy our people in the Dutch establishment to implementations that require more close contact with the customer. “Prashant Tapkhirwala adds that a significant proportion of the work on the latest release of LeanApps of Life was carried out by the Indian team, which from this summer consists of 15 employees. This illustrates the development that more and more tasks, and also more complex ones, are transferred to the Indian team. And that is also true for responsibility.

Product Lifecycle

Offshore partner coMakeIT has three models of outsourcing that are based on the product life cycle of software. "In the first strategy a completely new product is built up from scratch by the customer with a completely new offshore team. All functions are located in the offshore team. In the second strategy a team works on an existing product, the roles in the team are adapted accordingly. The third strategy is for extending the life of a software product, for example if a user group wished so. The core of the matter is that for each type of product development we build the right teams. Our HR approach aims to attract the right employee in the team that is specifically set up for the specific customer, and that is noticed by our customer. Customers are cooperating with developers who fit the type of work and whose knowledge meets the life cycle of the product, "says Gertjo Tigelaar, Account Executive. LeanApps now fits the second strategy, but in the future could also build a team to keep a product profitable.

The results of LeanApps are ever so good since the choice for offshoring, concludes Wiebe van Leijenhorst, CEO. "We are now comfortably capable to realize major projects. We are talking to new customers and we can confidently paint them a speedy implementation of the prospect. In addition we can assure our customers continuity even if we deal with peaks. Partly by the rapid development of our team in India we are able to expand our activities. We expect to continue this growth. "

Recruitment and selection by coMakeIT for LeanApps

To build a good relationship with the Indian team they are going to work with, LeanApps actively participates in the selection of candidates personally. Once the offshore partner is done with the initial interviews and all set with the long list of shortlisted candidates, LeanApps takes the final interviews and selects the people that fit the company. These are employees who are assertive and in no way only followers. Prashant Tapkhirwala: "coMakeIT by its experience in India and with our way of working, is able to supply us with a list of well qualified candidates. The people we then select immediately make acquaintance with the existing team and we also do some fun activities together, that gives us a head start and is also very much appreciated by the team. “New selected team members also come to The Netherlands, where they undergo a tough training program. They also get to know the Dutch colleagues and the Dutch culture. This personal approach raises its fruits is the belief of Tapkhirwala.